Safety device for automobiles.



E. FAVARY.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 22, 1907.

Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES: llVl/E/VTOR ma i/4am. v War E. PAVARY.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 22, 1907.

Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES.-

UNITED STATES PATENT onnro'E.

n'rnnnnnn'r FAVARY, OF NEW YORK, n. Y.

SAFETY DEVICE non. AUTOMOBILES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 22, 1907. Serial No.,389,704.

as for instance should the chauffeur lose his presence of mind.

At the present day, the only means provided for stopping an automobileis under the sole control of the chauffeur and embodies devices-wherebythe brakes are applied by hand or foot and devices whereby theconnection between the engine and the driving wheels-of the automobilemay be broken, as by operating a foot actuated clutch lever. In order topromptly stop the automobile, it is necessary for the chaufl'eur tooperate both -of these devices substantially simultaneously, for if thebrakes alone are applied, without breaking the connection between theengine and thedriving wheels of the vehicle, the machine might not bebrought to a standstill, unless the engine should be choked.

mind, if something should go wrong with passe'ngers,with the exceptionof the'chaufthe clutch lever so as to make it impossible todisconnect-the engine quickly from the driving wheels, if the steeringwheels should not act promptly, and the chaufieur in trying 'to controlthem, shouldlose sight of everything else, or if the automobile shouldstart for any reason whatever when the chaufi'eur is not in his seat, anaccident would be imminent for the reason that the four are in aposition where they may not conveniently reach the brake levers or theother devices provided for actuating the brakes and disconnecting theengine from the driving wheels.

proved safety devices which Wlll enable pas- With a knowledge of theseconditions, my invention has for its primar ob ect, 1m-

sengers riding in an automobile to stop the same independently of thechauffeur and of the means ordinarily provided for him to v control thecar, and more specifically the;

In other words, if the chauffeur should lose his presence of thepassengers, by touching a button, pull ing a knob or handle, or moving alever slightly and without the necessity of exerting much force as isrequired with the present clutches and brake levers, may quickly bringthe automobile to a'standstill.

WIth these and other objects in view as will more fully appear as thedescription Patented Feb.1'7, 1914c invention aims to provide means.whereby: V

proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions, arrangementsand combinations of the parts that I shall hereinafter fullydescribe andclaim. A r

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to thefollowing description and accompanying drawings, in Y which Figure 1 isa side'elevation of one embodiment of my invention; Fig; 2 is. ahorizontal sectional vieW- of another form of the device; Fig. 3illustrates in side view still another form; Fig. 4 is a detail sideview of a passenger controlled brake actuating safety-device that may beemployed, and Fig; 5 is a detail view of another form of brake actuatingsafety device; .Fig. 6

shows the bile.

Corresponding and like parts are referred parts assembled on an vautomotin the following descri tion and indi-- catedin. all the views of t e"drawings by thesame referencecharac'ters.

Those forms of my invention illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 aredesigned to act on the well known principle that if an in- I ternalcombustion engine is running and the spark be advanced too much, it willstop the.

engine and that if the ignition of the en-' gine be advanced so as tooccur at the be:

ginningof the compression stroke, not only will the engine be stopped,but the compression of the gas in the cylinders will offer considerableresistance to the move ment of the pistons, which will result inbringing the automobile quickly to a standstill. i

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3,the reference 3 numeral a designates the commutator which is usuallyattached to a shaft running at one-half the speed of the engineor to themagneto.

' b designates a rod forming part of the ordinary means for controllingthe commutator and ignition from the drivers seat by the chauffeur, saidrod'jbeing designed to be connected in the usual manner with the sparkadvancing and retarding ,lever as shown at 2, Fig. 6.

* that under ordinary conditions, the commutator a is controlled by themovements of the rod 6, the spring a being of sufficient tension to atall times hold, under normal conditions, the rod 6 connected to the pin8 of the 'lug 9. But in case it is required to stop the automobilequickly, it is evident that a pull upon the safety actuating devicedwill disengage the pin 6 from the spring a, and consequently also fromthe rod b, whereby the commutator a is moved until the lug g engages arelatively stationary stop f. Manifestly, if this stop be placed so thatit will engage the lug g of the commutator a when the latter is in aposition where ignition will occur in the cylinder at the commencementof the compression stroke, it will require a great deal of power torotate the crank shaft of the engine and'consequently the engine willserve to check 'the momentum of the vehicle. Instead of having to pullthe commutator out of connection with the rod 6, I may use aconstruction such as that illustrated in Fig. 2. This view is asectional view, taken on a line which is indicated by AA in Fig. 1, werethe parts of Fig. 1 to be arranged as illustrated in Fig. 2. In thislast named embodiment of the invention, h designates a spring whichunder normal conditions is held compressed by a pin 6 which engages thelug g of the commutator a, said lug bearing against one end of thespring h, as clearly shown. In this form of the device, if it be desiredto stop the car, the rope d is pulled, and this in turnwill pull the pin6, thereby releasing the spring '11., the latter being permitted to actto move the commutator lug g in a direction to turn the commutatortoward the position in which ignition will occur in the cylinder at thecommencement of thecompression stroke. The housing 7' is provided forthis form of the .device, said housing being in the form of a tube, ifdesired, slotted at one side to permit the-luv g to slide inward.

If desired, instead of pulling the pin 6 by the safety actuating deviced, I may provide an electro-magnet 7c of which the pin 6 constitutes amovable plunger or core. Then by closing the electrical connection as bya push button 1 the electro-magnet' will be energized and the pin 6 willbe moved into it so as to release the lug 9. Obviously, the electriccurrent necessary for this electro-mag'net may be taken from the batteryor magneto used for the ignition of the gas in the engine cylinder, orfrom a separate battery. In stead of advancing the commutator, I may usean electric switch by which it is possible to change the electricconnection between the leads or wires, going to the spark coil orthedifi'erent cylinders, and the terminals of the commutator. Forinstance, referring now to Fig. 3, if the arrow shows the direction foradvancing-the commutator and the electric switch m be so arranged thatby any means such as moving a knob or handle, the connections will bechanged as shown in dotted lines, it can readily be understood that theexplosion in the respective cylinders will occur earlier than underordinary circumstances, and thus have the same effect as if thecommutator were ad vanced. I

I, II, III and IV are the wires going to the spark coils of thecylinders. It is to be understood that this part of my invention is notlimited to any specific location or number of switch handles or knobsarranged in different parts of the automobile so that the passengersriding in the rear as well as those in front, including the chauffeur,may reach them easily.

The device thus far described will tend to stop the automobile if theconnection between the engine and the driving wheels be uninterrupted.If, however, the chauffeur should disengage the clutch or if in anyother way this connection be broken, it is clear that advancing thecommutator would instantly stop the engine, but not the automobile. Forthis reason, I provide, in addition to the commutator controlling meansand designed to be installed in an automobile in connection therewith,some means under the controlof thepassengers for operating the brakes.One embodiment of this means is illustrated in Fig. 4, where ndesignates a brake pulley fastened upon the rotating shaft 0 of theautomobile. If con- A venient, the driving shaft might be em ployedwhich always rotates when the wheels of the automobile are rotating. Aspring p is held under tensionby a'trigger 1' towhich the safetyactuating device cf, such as a rope, cable or the like is connected.

Under ordinary conditions, with the parts in the position illustrated.in Fig- 4, the

spring p will hold the brake-band 8 out of engagement with the brakepulley it. But

when itis desired to bring the devices into j operation, it is onlynecessaryto pull the trigger 1' in a direct-ion to release its rela-.

tively free end from the adjoining portion of the brake band, whereuponthe spring p will be permitted to act and draw the brakethe same as athat described in connect-ion with Fig. 2, whereby the actuation of a.sin-.

gle push button" will not only stop the engine, but apply the brake.

Instead of using a separate brake as indicated in Fig. 4, I may use oneof the ordinary brakes of the car, the parts being'then arranged asindicated in Fig. 5. In this view, u designates the brake rod, leadingfrom the brake hand lever or foot lever, and 'v-designates the rodleading to the rear wheel brakes or the shaft brake. These two parts areordinarily connected rigidly by means of the pin e, and when they are soconnected, the springs 1) that are connected to the respective rods toand o are held under tension. In this embodiment of the invention, whenit is desired to bringthe safety brake devices into action, it is onlynecessary to withdraw the pin 6, whereupon the rigid connection betweenthe two rods u and -v will be broken and the contractile springs wouldbe permittedto act so as to apply the brake.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In an automobile, a commutator, chauffeur controlled means foractuating the same, said means including a rod having a frangibleconnection with the commutator, automatic means tending to actuate thecommutator independently of the ch'aufl'eur con trolled means, and meansfor breaking the connection between said rod and the commutator, wherebyto permit said automati means to act.

2. In an automobile,a commutator, chauffeur controlled means for"actuating the same, said means including a rod having a frangibleconnection with the commutator,

electrically controlled means for breaking said connection, and meansfor automatically actuating the'commuta toi' when said connection hasbeen broken.

3. In an automobile, a commutator, and chauffeur controlled means foractuating the same, said means including a rod having a connection withthe commutator, and inde-' pendent means arranged to break theconnection between said rod and commutator.

4. In an automobile, the combination with i a commutator, and a brake,of chaufieur controlled means for operating the commutator, means forapplying the brake, and

means controlled by the passengers and auxiliary to the first-namedmeans for advancing the ignition and applying the brake.

5. In an automobile, a commutator provided with a lug, a rod, a tubeconnected to ,6. In an automobile, the combination with a commutator anda brake, of chauiieur controlled means for operating the commutator,means for automatically applying the brake,

means for holding said automatic applying means in an operativeposition, and means arranged to be controlled by the assengers foroperating the commutator an releasing said holding means to permit theautomatic means to act.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York thistwentyfirst day of August A. 1907.

ETHELBERT FAVARY.

